India Gives Nod on Attending China-Hosted BRICS Summit Amid Lingering Border Dispute in Ladakh

In a significant diplomatic outreach, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi made an unannounced day-long visit to New Delhi in the last week of March, hoping to repair ruptured bilateral ties over border tensions in Ladakh. China urged India to put border issues in a "proper position" and stick to the "right direction" in bilateral relations.

India has conveyed to Beijing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the 14th annual Summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — the BRICS nations -- in the last week of June.

The summit will be held in a virtual format after a recent unprecedented rise in COVID-19 cases in China. The last two BRICS summits were hosted online through video conferences by Russia and India, respectively, due to the pandemic.

Coordinator of China's BRICS affairs, Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu emphasised on 12 April that with the support of all parties, China had successfully held more than 20 important activities.

"China is willing to work with other BRICS countries to make good preparations for this year's BRICS Summit as the main line, gather consensus on solidarity, comprehensively deepen cooperation in various fields, deepen BRICS strategic partnership and help the high-quality development of the five countries", Ma Zhaoxu said.

The meeting dates are still being finalised; the sources told Indian daily The Hindu, although 23-24 June have been suggested as dates for the summit.

The theme of the 14th BRICS summit is "Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development".

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on 24 March, a day before the Chinese top diplomat's visit to New Delhi, that public health and vaccine cooperation have been identified as among the key areas of BRICS cooperation this year, as the world continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar discussed China's chairing of BRICS with his counterpart Wang Yi on 25 March in New Delhi.

"They (Chinese delegation) spoke obviously about hosting a summit at which they would like naturally the participation of all the leaders", Jaishankar had said.

Jaishankar acknowledged that the impact of the tensions in the border areas on the overall relationship had been visible during the last two years.

"The frictions and tensions that arise from China's deployments since April 2020 cannot be reconciled with a normal relationship between two neighbours", Jaishankar said, referring to the eastern Ladakh standoff.

In June 2020, a total of 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops were killed in one of several clashes in eastern Ladakh.

Wang spoke about China's desire to return to normalcy while referring to the larger significance of bilateral ties. Still, New Delhi conveyed that the "restoration of normalcy will require a restoration of peace and tranquillity".

BRICS is Firm and Continues to Move Forward

Indian officials have not skipped any of the BRICS meetings under the chairmanship of Beijing this year.

Diplomats from four emerging economies said at last week's preparatory meeting that they would further support China to make enormous progress for the "China year", referring to the rotating chair it holds for 2022.

BRICS nations have also expressed concern about the "serious impacts" of "unilateral sanctions" against Russia on the post-COVID global economic recovery, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

China's Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said on 12 April that BRICS nations commit to "fully support and cooperate with China in the good preparations for the BRICS Summit to ensure a complete success of the summit".

On Tuesday, counter-terrorism officials will meet to discuss "targeted Financial Sanctions Related to Terrorism and Terrorist Financing" during a plenary session.